HIA members more optimistic on LI economy

The recently released Long Island Economic Survey and Opinion poll showed while local business professionals are slightly more confident about the economy than last year, that optimism has remained relatively flat.

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“This is my fourth recession now,” said Jack O’Connor, head of Melville-based Newmark Knight Frank, who served as a panelist for the breakfast panel, “and it’s definitely the worst one. The thing is, we finally have a pulse, we’re getting more business. I’m more confident now.”

Tom Murray, managing partner of Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Co. – the firm that provided the initial study, noted that the survey was conducted Oct. 1 and that the uptick since then was a positive sign and one reflected by the national economy.

“Since Jan. 1 the Dow is up 4.5 percent for the year and the Nasdaq is up 8 percent,” Murray said. “That could just be the January effect, but it’s encouraging nonetheless.”